A research scientist by profession, Dr. Barry Spears is the person behind the widely popular zone diet program. Since his book on “The Zone” came out some time in 1995, people have started trying it out, and results were consistently successful. Even doctors recommend the zone dieting for people who want to keep themselves healthy.

Through the zone diet program, one can rightly balance hormonal levels in the body. An imbalance in one’s hormonal levels can lead to unhealthy weight gain or weight loss. Through proper dieting, hormones will be in check and will remain at healthy levels.

By adhering to a zone diet program, one can curb unhealthy cravings such as excessive carbohydrate cravings (pizza, pasta, bread, etc). Too much carbohydrate is certainly unhealthy. It’s the number one cause of weight problems in most people.

Through the zone diet, blood sugar levels will stabilize. Too much sugar in the blood can lead to medical problems like diabetes for one. Also, right sugar levels ensure lasting energy in a day, plus, your food intake will be just right since you are not fooled into thinking and craving for unneeded food servings.

If you are on a zone diet, you will need to observe a balanced meal each time. You must see to it that daily intake will have the right amounts of protein (low-fat), the right amounts of carbohydrates (get them more from fruits or vegetables, in stead of breads and potatoes), and the right amounts of healthy fat (like olive oil). The officially recommended ratio is 40% carbohydrate, 30% protein, and 30% fat.

It is best to begin your day with a zone diet meal within an hour after you’ve waken. Spread your meals into five servings in a day and try to space them no more than five hours in between. Keeping this time table will allow your blood sugar level to remain stable. Always maintain an abundance of body liquids while on a zone diet. Take in at least eight glasses of water daily. That would roughly be around half a gallon.

Complement your zone diet program with a healthy lifestyle. Do not make a habit of staying up too late. Have six to eight hours of body rest nightly. Maintain regular physical activity such as brisk walking, stair climbing, manual work or house chore, and others.

The zone diet program will not give you a license to indulge in harmful vices. In fact, everything may be in vain if you stay in your vices. Those which already have medical problems in their family history should seriously think about quitting smoking, drinking, and taking prohibited drugs.

Zone dieting definitely works, people testify to that fact. Many have felt increased body and mind energy levels after only a week with it. Even those with existing medical conditions have seen an improvement in their physical wellbeing. This program is not a weight loss strategy, it is a health strategy. Watch the food you eat and watch the lifestyle you live. Do that, and better yet, let zone diet help do that for you.

The unique principle behind the zone diet promotes a dietary program that targets hormonal control to reduce body fat and maintain ideal weight while reducing the risks of other chronic diseases as well.

The Zone diet was born from the concept of Dr. Barry Sears, a guru in hormonal responses and dietary control using a cutting edge technology in conducting modern scientific researches that give birth to various wellness and health products and dietary supplements.

The principles behind the concept of the zone diet is to establish a lifestyle program that aims to promote weight reduction, decelerate the effects of aging, prevention of the development risk of various chronic disorders through mental and physical improvement performance.

These are achieved by designing a dietary food groups that are in the right combination amount of carbohydrates, fats and proteins for every meal including snacks. The dietary concept in the zone diet includes retooling the body metabolism through the figure of 30% fat, 30% protein and 40% carbohydrates intake.

These base figures in the zone diet are designed to allow the body to promote a balanced hormonal level that is in a specific range that will control one’s hunger thereby controlling the caloric intake without depriving the body of the nutrients it needs. Simply starving your self is not a good way of dieting, because your immune defense system and the rest of your body won’t get the much needed vitamins nad nutrients, so controlling these factors is a very important step in a diet.

A moderate carbohydrate, moderate fat and moderate protein diet is another way to describe the zone diet. It consists of about 1 gram of fat, 2 grams of protein and 3 grams of carbohydrates. This type of diet program from the zone diet is patterned from the treatment applied for type II diabetes and obesity.

Through the zone diet one is able to learn how to switch off and switch on some genes that can contribute to weight gain and weight loss. This will result in lesser fat build ups, lesser cravings and more energy to use to sustain one’s daily activities.

The zone diet provides a person a good way of life from which they can exercise choices of wellness and develop the ability for self health improvement by eating the right kinds of foods with the proper dietary proportions.

Through controlling the balance of protein, carbohydrates and fats intake from one’s diet one is able to exercise power to control the major hormones related to dieting namely the glucagon, insulin and eicosanoids.

The glucagon releases the carbohydrates stored in the body to steady the blood sugar level. The insulin can make one gain weight by storing the bodily fats in the body while the eicosanoids are the master hormones that can control inflammation and other hormonal bodily functions.

Through the zone diet one is able to follow a weight reduction program that while making your body slimmer and of course more healthy, can also reduce the risk of other diseases owing to the hormonal balance integrated into the balanced meal planned daily to keep a healthy lifestyle, good life and ideal body weight.

Most of us have heard of Atkin’s diet which calls for almost a complete carbohydrate cut from our diet for the first 2 weeks (induction phase)and then to add carbohydrate to our meals progressively thereafter. Whilst there are many success stories for this weight loss diet, there are also many criticisms claiming that Atkin’s diet weight loss program is very unhealthy.

Well, to me, most weight loss diets are unhealthy. Anyway, I find Doctor Barry Sear’s zone diet as one of the better or healthier weight loss diet. Please do note that I am not advocating dieting alone as a weight loss plan and strategy. I believe to lose weight and to keep the extra weight off permanently, we must combine healthy eating habits with regular exercise.

So what is the Zone Diet weight loss program?

The Zone Diet plan advocates protein-carb-fat balance in our meals. Very much like eating balanced meals.

Protein In Zone Diet

Our body needs a constant supply of protein as proteins are our body’s building blocks. This is the reason why zone diet meals start with low-fat protein. Proteins stimulate glucagon production, a hormone that helps our body to release stored carbohydrates (glycogen) from our liver to maintain blood sugar levels for the brain. However, we should not consume protein in an amount bigger than the size and thickness of the palm of your hand, said Dr Barry Sears.

The protein serving should occupy one third of our dining plate because our body cannot use more protein than that (for ordinary folks who are not into building muscles).

Do choose the leanest protein as there are likely fats in your meal and saturated fat in any weight loss diet program should be kept low.

Carbohydrates In Zone Diet

The protein portion of a zone diet meal must be balanced and on par with the carbohydrates. Do note that not all carbs are equal. Fruits and vegetables are good carbs with a low capacity to stimulate insulin production, while other vegetables (such as carrots and potatos etc) and grain-based or refined flour products (white bread, pasta, white rice, cakes etc.) are bad carbohydrates as they are high glycemic carbs. Since the Zone diet’s goal is insulin control, we must make sure that most of the carbohydrates are of the low glycemic types.

So one third of our meal should come from protein source and two thirds from good carbohydrate source like green leafy vegetables.

Fats In Zone Diet

A Zone diet meal requires fat. Good fats come in two forms: monounsaturated fats and long-chain omega-3 fats. Monounsaturated fats come from olive oil, some type of nuts aznd avocados etc. Long-chain omega-3 fats can come from fish oil.

Limit bad fats like saturated fat and trans fat. Saturated fat comes from animal meat and high-fat dairy products. Trans fats are artificial fats created by the food industry, commonly listed as partially hydrogenated oil.

Then there is a type of omega-6 fatty acid known as arachidonic acid, found mainly in fatty red meats, egg yolks and organ meats. We do need some arachidonic acid in our diet, but too of this acid much can be damaging to our health just like any other fat.

Conclusion Of The Zone Diet Weight Loss Program

Sounds like common sense balanced meals isn’t it? Would you include The Zone Diet plan into your weight loss program? What do you think about The Zone Diet?

The Zone Diet works on the principle that 100,000 years ago, we were meat eaters, and our metabolism is designed to handle the demands of a meat-based diet.

Madonna, Demi Moore, and Jennifer Aniston swear by the results of the Zone Diet, which was created by Barry Sears, PhD. The Zone Diet contains 40% carbohydrate, 30% protein, and 30% fat and is known as the 40-30-30 plan.

As the food industry evolved, more carbohydrates have been introduced into our daily diet, thus causing an imbalance in our metabolism to burn fat. The reason for our extra weight can also be attributed to the many grains and starches in our diet (pasta, rice, breads, and potatoes). The Zone Diet’s approach calls for a return to the diets of our ancestors where meat, fruits, and vegetables are the main dietary foods.

The Zone Diet suggests that you need the right ratio of carbohydrates to proteins and fats in order to control the insulin in the bloodstream. Too much of the hormone (insulin) can increase fat storage and inflammation in the body (conditions that are associated with obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease). Sears asserts that by using the Zone Diet, you are actually optimizing the body’s metabolic function. Through the regulation of blood sugar, you allow your body to burn excess body fat.

Although you are not prohibited from any particular food group, it is best to avoid food with high fat and carbohydrates such as grains, starches, and pastas. The ideal sources of carbs are fruits and vegetables and for monounsaturated fats olive oil, almonds, and avocados are recommended. The Zone Diet claims to use food as a drug for overall good health, weight loss and prevention or management of heart disease and diabetes.

Sears says that you can test to see whether you are ‘hormonally’ correct by eating following the Zone diet and see how you feel four hours later. To simplify the Zone Diet, fill one-third of a plate with low-fat protein, and then two-thirds with fruits and vegetables.

Celebrities and some health experts say that the Zone’s recommendations do not stray far from the USDA’s (United States Dietary Association) dietary guidelines and therefore are advocates of the Zone Diet. Others argue that the Zone Diet has flawed ratios but Sears argues that the Zone diet is a low-glycemic-load diet that has adequate protein. .

A critic of the Zone diet such as the AHA (American Heart Association) classifies the Zone Diet as high protein and does not recommend the Zone Diet for weight loss. They contend that the Zone Diet has not been proven effective in the long term for weight loss. The AHA issued an official recommendation warning against diets like the Zone Diet. They believe that the Zone Diet is hazardous as it restricts the intake of essential vitamins and minerals present in certain foods. The AHA also contends that the protein ratio in the Zone diet is too high even if the minimal fat ratio is good. Robert H. Ecker M.D of the A.H.A. finds the Zone Diet’s theory on insulin flawed and argues that there is no scientific proof that the hormone insulin plays a big role in weight regulation.